


brighter this time

by lilsoftgay



Category: Dynasty (TV 2017)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Prepare to suffer, Slow Burn, fallon is The Opposite Of That, kirby is an absolute wild child, v slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:47:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25550794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilsoftgay/pseuds/lilsoftgay
Summary: All Fallon wants is to make a name for herself, by herself, halfway across the world and out of the shadows of the dynasty her father had built.All Kirby wants to do is have fun.---aka the youtuber au
Relationships: Kirby Anders/Fallon Carrington, Steven Carrington/Sam "Sammy Jo" Jones
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	brighter this time

**Author's Note:**

> title comes from eyes shut by years & years, w many thanks to @cristalcolbys for the song rec. 
> 
> also w many thanks to sarah for helping me when i got stuck on an english phrasing issue. 
> 
> pls enjoy the youtuber au that no one asked for ♡

Stopping the camera, Fallon Carrington flopped backwards into the soft embrace of her bed, her long brown perfectly curled hair splaying out underneath her. She scrunched her nose as her back hit the duvet, and got back up as quickly as she’d laid down, smoothing the covers over. She had two more videos to film before she could relax. 

Fallon stretched her tan arms above her head, twisting side to side trying to get rid of the stiffness that had settled into her body halfway through recording the earlier video. 

She took a moment to sweep her gaze around the room, eyeing the furniture’s current set up. As she made her way across the large bedroom to her wardrobe, she moved a few chairs and a stray stool around. She grabbed a few pieces of clothing that she hadn’t worn in months and laid them casually on the chairs before dropping a warm cashmere turtleneck on the edge of the bed that would be just in frame. 

Fallon fluffed up the pillows and rearranged the slightly and smiled tightly. Almost as an afterthought, she turned the book on her nightstand by 90 degrees. 

Just enough changes to make it seem like time had passed between the two videos. 

She walked back towards the wardrobe, grabbed a few garment bags with pieces that she wanted to highlight for the video, and touched up the eyeliner that complimented her bright blue eyes. 

It wasn’t that Fallon liked being inauthentic (or as others called it, lying) to her viewers. It was more that, well, it was easier to shoot a bunch of videos in one go and then edit them with her assistant over the next few weeks. She sighed as she ran a brush through her hair and started flipping the ends, considering potential hairstyles for the new video. 

And it was that viewers liked to nitpick at the details and backgrounds of all her videos. 

\---

Five hours later, Fallon sank back into her soft duvet just like she had earlier in the day, letting herself stay there a few minutes this time before getting back up again. She swiped her finger over a small dent at the edge of the headboard and sighed. 

For the third time that week, Fallon made a mental note to get something to fix or cover the dent so that it would stop bothering her so much. Sometimes she missed the comforts of home, of having everything fixed magically overnight, someone waiting on her hand and foot. 

Grabbing her phone from the bed, she walked over to her desk in the corner of her room - a little ‘office’ space she’d made for herself, where she would sit for hours on end to rewatch her videos, or reply to her fans, or watch other content creators’ videos to get inspiration for other videos she would make.. And to keep up with the competition. 

Fallon flicked the switch on the power strip and watched the monitor in front of her come to life, blinking at its brightness. She glanced at the time quickly and sighed when she realized she wouldn’t be going to bed early tonight. 

She plugged in the cable for her harddrive and then straightened the desk up a bit as she waited for the camera’s memory to load. Everything from the white file holders, to the soft gray desk lamp, to the cork coasters had its perfect place on her desk.

The computer beeped at her, and Fallon jumped into action, dragging the recorded video files from the harddrive to her desktop. She opened her email, scanning her inbox to see if there was anything urgent to deal with before she dove into work. 

She rolled her eyes as she saw seven different emails from her over-eager assistant, Sam. From the subject lines, a few of them looked promising, and a few of them looked like he was drunk when he wrote them. She laughed quietly as she saw the timestamps on them that confirmed her theory. 

Her laugh stopped abruptly and a shiver ran down her spine as she spotted the last unread email at the bottom of her inbox, 

From: Blake Carrington | Subject: Steven | Sent: 14 hours ago

Fallon breathed in, and reached over for her sparkling water, wishing she’d poured herself a drink earlier instead. She didn’t have time to deal with whatever it was that her father wanted from her now, let alone if it was anything to do with her brother, Steven. 

That was just going to have to be a problem for another day, one where she’d downed several Southsides first. 

Archiving it for later reading, Fallon closed her email and opened the first video file. She pulled out her notebook and her favorite pen, ready to make annotations as she watched through the footage for which timestamps she’d want to include in the final edit. 

She dug through the box on her desk, to find the receipts with the brand & product names for all of the outfits she’d worn in the video, to make sure to include those details for the viewers. 

Fallon grit her teeth when she noticed a few stray baby hairs out of place in the first minute of the video. She’d need to get Sam to work his photoshop magic to get rid of those when he retouched the video before she would post it on her channel. She tilted her head, wondering if he’d be willing to make her waist narrower too, but quickly decided against it as she pictured the comments she’d get if anyone noticed that. Although as long as no one noticed... 

Muttering frustratedly under her breath, Fallon started scribbling notes out. Everything from the timestamps she liked, which take to use when she’d repeated a sentence over multiple times, which poses she should avoid in future, her thoughts as she watched the video. 

\---

Sam Jones laughed at his boss’s requests as soon as her email came through. He swiped a hand through his dark hair, made a note to ask for it to be shorter the next time he got his regularly scheduled haircut, and thumbed at his phone to start a reply back to Fallon. 

“You always look gorgeous, Fallon, but sure I’ll see what I can do.” He shook his head as he typed out the same reply he always did when her insecurities flared up via email. They’d been working together three years now, and Sam knew the only response she would give to anything he said right now would be an eye roll. He bookmarked the email to use her thoughts and notes when editing the video for her. He added some questions to his email before sending it off, then quickly flipped back to Tinder. 

He swiped no to a few people in a row, sighing when he realized he didn’t know what he was basing the no’s off of, and then closed the app. Sam had no idea what he was really looking for, but he’d been enjoying the entertainment that random dates with strangers provided. He opened the app again, swiped yes on the next three guys that appeared with barely a glance at their names - Andrew, Jeff, Zack. 

Grabbing a cold bottle of champagne that last weekend’s date had left in his kitchen, Sam pulled out his laptop and got to work with Fallon’s videos. Though it wasn’t his favorite part of the job, he didn’t mind the editing work, liked it actually - especially her seasonal lookbooks that proved the most popular and well liked with her audience. 

“Are you editing tonight?” 

Sam rolled his eyes at his boss’ text, but a smile tugged at his lips, she wouldn’t be the Fallon he knew and loved if she wasn’t such a perfectionist. 

“Just opening up the first set of files.” 

He grinned as a video opened on his screen, a thumbnail of Fallon in a soft open-knit white turtleneck with black stitching. Sam raised an eyebrow, surprised at the cozy feel of the look, a striking contrast to Fallon’s usual. 

“And a bottle of champagne.” 

His phone beeped almost immediately, and Sam chuckled to himself, expecting to be reminded that drinking on the job was frowned upon. 

“Oh okay.” 

Sam stared at the message, taking a few swigs of champagne while considering whether a reply was worth it. 

“Thanks for editing on a Sunday. Enjoy the champagne (: “

Sam’s eyes widened at the smiley face. He didn’t think Fallon even knew how to use emojis. He shook his head, and opened the attachment in her email detailing the timestamps she’d liked and the bits she wanted to cut out and hide from the world. He’d ask her what was up the next time they saw each other in person, bright and early on Tuesday morning. 

\---

Fallon curled up in a ball on her bed, and put her noise cancelling headphones on. She argued with the pillow for a few minutes trying to find a comfortable position that would let her keep her headphones on without her neck aching or her ear being squished. She lost the fight quickly, and turned onto her back instead, fumbling about for her phone and opening the Youtube app automatically. 

She tapped on the first video on her recommended list on the youtube homepage, Ashley Cunningham’s latest video from her Best 3 Outfits For (Blank) series. Fallon watched silently, rolling her eyes every few minutes. Their video styles and approach to their channels were quite different, but they were still similar enough in content that they were compared often or that their names were mentioned together in articles and they were often invited on press trips together. Fallon rolled her eyes harder as Ashley showed off a floral print floaty blouse as a best outfit for spring. 

“Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.” Fallon muttered, in her best impersonation of Miranda Priestly’s voice. 

Annoyed as she was, Fallon sat up and grabbed her notebook again, making a few notes on the poses and accessories that she’d liked from Ashley’s video. 

She flipped to the next recommended video, smiling as she realized it was one of her friends, Monica Colby, with her tips on how to do the perfect winged eyeliner. Her smile grew bigger as she watched, knowing that Monica had learned most of these tips from Fallon herself. She switched briefly to her Twitter app. 

@justfallon: Love @monica_mua’s new video on how to get perfect liner! If you’ve ever wanted to learn how I get my liner look, watch her vid here: bit.ly/monica_mua_liner 

An hour of autoplaying recommended fashion videos later, and copious pages of notes later, Fallon took a long sip of her Southside and groaned loudly. She’d ended up on another one of those nonsensical themeless vlog videos that did nothing but showcase shoddy editing and shaky camerawork. She skipped past it without barely bothering to look at the content creator’s name, K-something, only seeing a glimpse of the girl’s shiny red hair as Youtube loaded the next video for her. She’d seen the hair before, but couldn’t match it to a face or a name, just another in a long list of youtubers that she didn’t waste her time watching. 

She laughed openly when Sam’s face filled her screen, another of his shenanigans filled videos that she’d hate if it were anyone else making them. Setting her notebook down, she let the video play, half-heartedly listening to Sam’s rambling video about dating in Paris as a foreigner, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of her father’s email from earlier in the day. 

It had been a couple of years since she’d last talked to her father. It had been a while longer than that since she’d talked to Steven. She hazily remembered his last drunken phone call to her from a phonebooth somewhere in the outskirts of New York, barely coherent enough to talk to her while she tried to direct 911 to wherever he was from half a planet away. 

Whatever it was, it could only be nothing good. She was certain at least that Steven wasn’t dead. Blake, for all the issues between them, wouldn’t break that news to her over email. No, he’d just let the announcement in the newspapers do the work for him if that were the case. Or maybe he’d get his latest fling to call her. Curiosity got the better of her. 

From: Blake Carrington | Subject: Steven | Sent: 23 hours ago  
Message: Steven has been released. He wants to see you. 

No hello, no sign off, just two blunt sentences. Black & white. 

Fallon dipped her head, strengthening her grip on the Southside she almost dropped as she pushed her laptop off her legs and onto her throw blanket. She steadied herself against the headboard, staring at that irritating dent in it until the wave of dizziness passed, before she grabbed her phone and opened it to her message thread with Sam. 

“Brunch tomorrow. Nuance Cafe at 10am. My treat.”

As an afterthought, she threw in a quick “As friends. Not work related.”, before sinking into the blankets, still fully clothed. 

She poured more of the homemade pre-mixed Southside from the carafe on her nightstand into her glass, and pulled her laptop back onto her knees, letting video after video play while her mind wandered. It wasn’t until a loud bang at the start of a video shocked her into spilling her drink that she realized it was 3am. She groaned loudly as she got out of bed to find a towel to mop up the mess. 

Fallon glared at the offending video as she gingerly sat back down on her bed, avoiding the drying patch of alcohol that she’d deal with in the morning. Well, later on in the morning, she thought as she glanced at the clock on her laptop. 

She frowned at the video, another one of those insipid vlogger videos she hated, and slammed the laptop shut. She pulled the blanket over her shoulder and willed herself to ignore the thoughts swirling in her head. 

Fallon let the haze of the alcohol wash over her and lull her into a few hours of dreamless sleep, already knowing tomorrow would be a bad day.

**Author's Note:**

> thoughts so far? ♡


End file.
